"Peanut Proud:" Blakely City Hall. (Dave Bender/file)
Now it's some Little Debbie peanut butter crackers that are being recalled because there's a chance of salmonella contamination.
That's the word Sunday from McKee Foods Corp. of Collegedale, Tenn.
The voluntary recall covers all sizes of two kinds of sandwich crackers - Little Debbie peanut butter toasty crackers and Little Debbie peanut butter cheese crackers.
The company says no other Little Debbie products are involved in the recall. McKee says it acted because the crackers have the potential to be contaminated.
Federal health authorities on Saturday urged consumers to avoid eating cookies, cakes, ice cream and other foods that contain peanut butter until authorities can learn more about a deadly outbreak of salmonella contamination.
Federal food safety officials say 85 food companies have purchased peanut products from the Georgia facility under investigation in the latest salmonella outbreak. The Food and Drug Administration says 30 companies have been contacted and urged to test their products.
Officials are focusing on peanut paste, as well as peanut butter, produced at the Blakely, Ga., facility owned by Peanut Corp. of America.
"We urge consumers to postpone eating any products that may contain peanut butter until additional information becomes available," said Stephen Sundlof, head of the Food and Drug Administration's food safety center.
But most peanut butter sold in jars at supermarkets appears to be safe, Sundlof said.
Here's a list of products voluntarily recalled by the Kellogg Co. because they could be contaminated with salmonella from the Blakely peanut processing facility:
Austin Quality Foods Cheese Crackers with Peanut Butter - all sizes
From school lunches to nutrition bars and ice cream, the nationwide salmonella outbreak has reached deep into the American food supply — even though many people had never heard of the small company at the center of the investigation until a few weeks ago.
The food manufacturer, Peanut Corp. of America, has just a few plants scattered across the South, but it may be responsible for one of the nation's largest food recalls in history.
Federal investigators on Friday said the Lynchburg, Va.-based company knowingly shipped salmonella-laced products from its Blakely, Ga., plant after tests showed the products were contaminated. Federal law forbids producing or shipping foods under conditions that could make it harmful to consumers' health.
So far, the salmonella outbreak has sickened about 575 people in 43 states and may have contributed to at least eight deaths. The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation and more than 1,550 products have been recalled.
The company has denied any wrongdoing, but said it is investigating.
Before the scandal, Peanut Corp. was a little-known but ambitious company that began in the 1970s as a family catering operation.
"We started this business working out of our house in Virginia with my mom doing all the accounting," company president Stewart Parnell had been quoted on the company's Web site.
The peanut processing business grew over the years. The company bought a plant in Georgia in 2001, opened another in Texas four years later, and was also running a plant in Virginia.
Friends and business associates said Parnell was dedicated.
"He certainly has gone out and done some things on his own — he didn't just lay around. He's been aggressive," said Eddie Marks, who runs a Virginia storage company and has known Parnell for 15 years.
But even as the company expanded and began to process millions of pounds of peanuts per month, its headquarters was still a two-story building behind Parnell's house. He even had his own brand of peanut products: "Parnell's Pride."
Belying the ambition, there were problems.
About nine months after Parnell bought the Georgia plant in 2001, potential insecticide contamination and dead insects were found near peanuts inspected by the Food and Drug Administration.
More recently, state inspections in 2006 and 2007 found some sanitary problems. After another inspection in October, state officials discovered only relatively minor violations.
But less than three months later, a federal investigation found roaches, mold and other unsanitary conditions.
The potential repercussions began to emerge. The Agriculture Department said it may have shipped possibly contaminated peanut butter and other foods to free school lunch programs in California, Minnesota and Idaho in 2007. The Federal Emergency Management Agency acknowledged that it distributed meals to disaster victims that may have included the potentially tainted peanut butter.
And it was discovered that the company's Plainview, Texas, plant didn't register with state health officials there after opening in March 2005 and only recently was discovered and inspected.
However, the most serious issue surfaced in inspection records released Friday by the Food and Drug Administration. The reports showed that in 2007 the company shipped chopped peanuts on July 18 and 24 after salmonella was confirmed by private lab tests.
FDA officials earlier had said Peanut Corp. waited for a second test to clear peanut butter and peanuts that initially tested positive for salmonella. But the agency amended its report, noting that the Georgia plant actually shipped some products before receiving the second test and sold others even after confirming salmonella.
A Peanut Corp. lawyer said the company is investigating and had no comment on the latest FDA findings. The company previously said it "categorically denies any allegations" that it sought lab results that would put its products in a favorable light.
Details of the privately held company have been slow to turn up, and what has come out hasn't been from Parnell. He has repeatedly declined to speak to reporters.
Parnell's friends and business partners described him as a hardworking, soft-spoken man who had a good rapport with the dozens of contacts he made over the years.
"He had a good reputation," said Jeffrey Pope, a peanut farmer who has done business with Parnell's Virginia plant. "People respected him. He's been in the industry for more than 30 years and he's been a mainstay."
Southwest Georgia peanut industry officials say Parnell didn't spend much time in the state, instead leaving the day-to-day dealings to others.
His reputation earned him a vaunted spot on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Peanut Standards Board, which is charged with helping the government establish quality and handling standards for the nation's peanuts.
But several board members said they were unaware Parnell was on the panel, and some said the board rarely met. When they did, it was often by teleconference.
Parnell was removed from the board Thursday by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Peanut Corp. was suspended from participating in government contract programs for at least a year.
The company has said in statements that it is deeply concerned.
"The product recalls issued by our company continue to expeditiously remove all potentially harmful products from the marketplace, in the best interest of the public's health and safety," a statement midweek said.
(AP)
Click here for more GPB News coverage of this story.
"Peanut Proud:" Blakeley City Hall. (Dave Bender/file)
A peanut butter maker with a plant in southwest Georgia has stopped production. The move comes after a string of food poisoning incidents.
"PEANUT CORPORATION OF AMERICA... HAS ANNOUNCED A VOLUNTARY RECALL OF PEANUT BUTTER PRODUCED IN ITS BLAKELEY, GEORGIA PROCESSING FACILITY," a recording on a PCA hotline said.
Officials at PCA say they're cooperating with a Food and Drug Administration investigation.
FDA officials say salmonella-tainted peanut butter has killed three people in Virginia and Minnesota, and sickened some 400 others in 42 states since last fall.
The company is voluntarily recalling all of their "King Nut" and "Parnell's Pride," commercial peanut butter batches nationwide.
The company says about 1,000 cases went out to restaurants and institutions, and were not sold directly to consumers.
The recall is taking place as the 33rd annual Georgia Peanut Farm Show opens in Albany on Thursday.
Organizers say they expect to host some 1,500 industry officials and local farmers at the day-long event.
Click here for more GPB News coverage of previous similar food poisoning incidents.
Representatives from the peanut industry plan to gather in Blakely in southwest Georgia to boost the image of the legume that has suffered a bout of bad publicity lately. Industry representatives will gather Saturday in the town's court square for the Peanut Proud Expo. The event will feature live music, free peanut snacks, educational exhibits and a peanut recipe contest. Blakely is home to the Peanut Corp. of America plant that was linked to the national salmonella outbreak that prompted one of the largest retail recalls ever, sickened nearly 700 people and may have been responsible for nine deaths. The peanut industry supports some 50,000 jobs in Georgia.
Today the head of the Georgia Peanut Commission told members of Congress the recent salmonella outbreak linked to a Georgia peanut plant could cost the industry 1 Billion dollars. A salmonella outbreak at plants operated by the now bankrupt Peanut Corp. of America prompted one of the largest recalls in history. The company shipped its peanut butter and paste to industrial producers who used it in products ranging from ice cream to dog food. More than 680 people were sickened and as many as nine may have died. The peanut commission's Don Koehler says peanut farmers are having to cut their acreage by a-third, but he says the true cost won't be know until the scare is over.
The Ohio Department of Health announced Friday that four deaths have been reported among the 67 cases and 19 people have been hospitalized.
Sixty-seven cases of salmonella poisoning have been reported in Ohio, the most in any state during a nationwide outbreak linked to peanut butter products.
Ohio has now surpassed California in the number of cases reported.
There are six reported food poisoning cases in Georgia so far, but no deaths.
As the recall of salmonella-tainted peanut butter products widens, a Washington state lawyer is now calling on the Virginia-based Peanut Corporation of America to pay funeral costs for several of those who died from food poisoning.
PCA officials say they’re laying off nearly all of the workers at the Blakely facility, and will only keep several managers on duty.
Local officials say 40 to 50 people are employed at the plant.
"As of 9PM EDT, Wednesday, January 22, 2009, 491 persons infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Typhimurium have been reported from 43 states. The number of ill persons identified in each state is as follows: Alabama (1), Arizona (10), Arkansas (4), California (62), Colorado (12), Connecticut (9), Georgia (6), Hawaii (3), Idaho (11), Illinois (6), Indiana (4), Iowa (2), Kansas (2), Kentucky (3), Maine (4), Maryland (8), Massachusetts (42), Michigan (25), Minnesota (35), Missouri (9), Mississippi (3), Nebraska (1), New Hampshire (11), New Jersey (19), New York (18), Nevada (5), North Carolina (6), North Dakota (10), Ohio (67), Oklahoma (2), Oregon (7), Pennsylvania (14), Rhode Island (4), South Dakota (2), Tennessee (9), Texas (6), Utah (5), Vermont (4), Virginia (20), Washington (13), West Virginia (2), Wisconsin (3), and Wyoming (2). Additionally, one ill person was reported from Canada."
As the salmonella recall of products containing peanut butter continues to expand, a Washington state lawyer is calling on the company with Georgia operations to pay funeral costs for the six people believed to have died from the outbreak.
That comes as Virginia-based Peanut Corporation of America announced it's laying off the majority of it's workforce.
Federal health officials now say a national salmonella outbreak tied to a south Georgia peanut butter plant has grown to 485 cases across 43 states and Canada. The outbreak may have also contributed to six deaths.
The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta says the case-number has been climbing as lab tests confirm a similar salmonella strain. Officials urge consumers for the time being to avoid products such as cookies, cakes and other foods containing peanut butter. Peanut butter sold in jars is NOT included in the warning. Peanut Corporation of America owns the Blakely, Georgia plant in question. Its product is sold to institutions and food companies, not consumers directly.
Georgia’s peanut farmers are not happy with a first draft of U-S House farm legislation meant to help them and other southeastern peanut growers.
Peanut industry leaders from Georgia and three neighboring southern states sent a letter to lawmakers this week. It says this proposal would affect them the most negatively of any bill they’ve seen since 1981. Language in the draft says government-backed price guarantees would stay basically flat, and a key 75-million dollar subsidy would be eliminated.
Congress is in debate over the proposed 5-year farm bill which would replace the current 2002 bill that expires this year.
Southern peanut farmers produce about three-quarters of the nation's crop.
The 12th Annual Plains Peanut Festival kicks off this Saturday. Georgia is the nation's leading peanut producer and it's the official state crop. The state's most famous peanut farmer and Plains native, Jimmy Carter, is scheduled to attend the festival with his wife Roselyn. Visitors will be able to learn more information about the southwest Georgia peanut industry in the nearby Plains Community Center. The festival also will feature a parade on Main Street at 11 a.m.
Governor Sonny Perdue on Wednesday said a “sacred trust,” was broken between the Peanut Corporation of America and consumers over the spreading salmonella debacle at the company’s Blakely plant.
Perdue and state agriculture officials are circling the peanut wagons and throwing their full backing behind Georgia’s farmers, food producers and distributors.
Governor Sonny Perdue makes a point to the several hundred industry leaders, farmers and legislators at the Georgia Agribusiness Council State Legislative Breakfast, held in downtown Atlanta on Feb. 4, 2009. (Photo: Dave Bender)
At a Georgia Agribusiness Council State Legislative Breakfast, Perdue told several hundred industry leaders:
“When people violate that sacred chain of food safety control, they will be prosecuted and held accountable; it is too important not to…(applause)”
Perdue faced a room packed with a veritable roll-call of food and ag industry officials.
Many worry that the an spreading peanut recall could prompt an already uncertain public could shun other preach-state-grown-and-produced foods.
Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin, says his department will reorganize to face the daunting task of better monitoring farms and factories across the state:
”Our inspectors have 16,000 facilities they have to inspect. You have to do that today with 60 employees – it’s impossible to give the necessary coverage that, apparently, we need.”
Irvin says his office will ask the legislature to establish a division to deal exclusively with checking processed foods.
The General Assembly is already mulling a mandatory food-testing bill.
Perdue, however, says no amount of externally-enforced inspections can replace a responsible food industry:
“In the food chain, there is a voluntary compliance: we share a sacred trust of safety among our producers, processors, preparers and servers of food – and you cannot be everywhere at one time.”
House Speaker Bill Richardson holds up a bag of Georgia peanuts, during his comments at the Georgia Agribusiness Council State Legislative Breakfast, held in downtown Atlanta on Feb. 4, 2009. (Photo: Dave Bender)
To make a point of that trust, House Speaker Glenn Richardson held up a small bag of Georgia peanuts as he stood behind the podium:
"One of the fringe benefits of being at the capitol, is [that] the Department of Agriculture brings these Georgia peanuts by (opens foil packet); they leave them at our office. And everybody that comes to our office loves these, and you know what?… (eants a few peanuts) I love Georgia peanuts. (applause).”
And those Georgia peanuts make up almost half of all peanuts used in the United States.
Click here for more GPB News coverage of the salmonella-tainted peanut products.
Georgia peanut farmers will need to plant more crops this year in order to meet demand around the world. Prices for the official state crop are going up as well.
China, normally one of the world's largest suppliers of peanuts, will not export any. The weak U.S. dollar also makes peanuts a bargain for places like Europe and Japan.
U.S. energy policy has affected peanut prices as well. Energy and world demand for food have driven up grain and soybean prices. Crops are competing for farmland with ethanol production.
Another factor, the recession. During tough economic times people consume more peanut butter. Demand is up 24% over this time last year.
Georgia's 2-billion dollar peanut industry produces 50-thousand jobs and 45% of all peanuts grown in the United States.
Georgia officials are still trying to determine the cause of the salmonella outbreak that's been linked to six deaths and more than 150 product recalls.
A crack in a piece of equipment that processes peanuts in a plant in Blakely, Georgia might be the cause of the nationwide salmonella outbreak. That’s according to state agriculture officials.
Department of Agriculture spokesman Oscar Garrison says they will continue to work with the US Food and Drug Administration to find the exact cause.
“There are some environmental samples that were taken by FDA that have turned up some positives as well as a couple of product samples take by our department that have turned up some positive results as well for salmonella.”
While salmonella isn't normally expected to turn up in peanut butter, 486 people from 43 states have contracted the illness.
All of the products recalled so far use peanut butter or peanut paste from the plant in southwest Georgia. But officials say peanut butter on store shelves is safe because they don’t sell directly to consumers.
Kellogg’s Keebler Cookies and Special K Bars are now on the recall list. They’re part of the growing scope of a national salmonella outbreak linked to a Georgia peanut butter plant.
The Keebler cookies included are Soft Batch Homestyle Chocolate Chunk Cookies and Oatmeal Raisin Cookies in 2.5 ounce packages with a “Best If Used Before" date before June 30. The cookies have UPC codes 3010032708 and 3010037899.
The Special K Protein Meal Bar recall includes only the Honey Almond flavor in six and eight count packages with a best if used before date before Feb. 1, 2010. No other Special K bars are part of the recall. The bars have UPC codes 3800039778, 3800039935 and 3800039931.
The cookies and bars don’t contain any peanut ingredients from the Peanut Corporation of American under investigation, but they were produced on the same line as products that do.
Click for more GPB stories on the peanut butter-salmonella outbreak.
Federal health officials say now that a south Georgia peanut butter plant is believed to be the sole source of a salmonella outbreak that has sickened more than 480 people nationwide. The outbreak is also possibly linked to six deaths. Still under investigation is peanut paste made at a Blakely,Georgia plant owned by Peanut Corporation of America. Federal officials now say more than 125 products have been recalled--everything from cakes to ice cream...to dog biscuits containing peanut butter.
In a salmonella outbreak traced to a Georgia food plant, ConAgra Foods says Peter Pan peanut butter will return to stores this month. It was pulled from store shelves in February after several people got salmonella poisoning. ConAgra also recalled Great Value peanut butter. ConAgra says it has since renovated its plant in Sylvester, Georgia near Albany. ConAgra officials said this week they expect to resume peanut butter production at the company's plant in south Georgia sometime this month.
As the salmonella recall of products containing peanut butter continues to expand, a Washington state lawyer is calling on the company with Georgia operations to pay funeral costs for the six people believed to have died from the outbreak.
That comes as Virginia based Peanut Corporation of America announced it's laying off the majority of it's workforce.
Bill Marler filed suit against PCA. The Seattle based lawyer represents the family of a person believed to have died as a result of consuming salmonella laced products processed at the Georgia's company's plant. In addition to asking PCA to cover hospital and funeral costs for those sickened by the outbreak, Marler also wants to investigate claims crack in the peanut processing machinery led to the salmonella contamination.
"We'll be asking the court to allow us entry into the facility so we can have our experts doing our own investigation as to why this outbreak occurred."
State and Federal health officials are currently investigating the cause of the outbreak.
Over 180 products, from snack crackers to protein bars, have been recalled.
Marler's entry into the case signals the large size and scope of this outbreak. He specializes in class action food borne illness cases, and litigated the 2006 E. Coli outbreak in spinach. California farming company executives literally cursed his name during that outbreak, which crippled the California agricultural industry. Marler says there are similarities in the two cases.
"Death cases in spinach were four, this one six. Yet, the other people who become ill, even though the numbers are bigger, the severity of the illnesses for salmonella tend to be substantially less, fortunately."
Marler has negotiated similar settlements for millions of dollars.
The potential cost, and current investigation, might be one reason PCA laid off a majority of it's workforce at the Blakely plant. Workers showed up to the plant yesterday to locked doors. It was only today the company president announced through a statement just three managers would remain on staff to aid the investigation. It's unclear exactly how many workers were let go, although the plant employs between 45-50 people, according to the local chamber of commerce.
Georgia’s top elected officials will mingle with leaders of the state’s agriculture industry this morning in Atlanta. The occasion is the annual breakfast of the Georgia Agribusiness Council. But this year, a hot topic of discussion is expected to be the salmonella outbreak linked to a southwest Georgia peanut processing plant. Governor Sonny Perdue is scheduled to speak at the event and make his first public comments on the matter. Other officials on-hand this morning include Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle and Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin.
Other news concerning the peanut plant--The Georgia Bureau of Investigation will meet with federal officials involved with the criminal investigation into the plant and the owner—Peanut Corporation of America. Governor Perdue has called-on the GBI to review whether any state laws were broken.
The southwest Georgia peanut butter maker linked to a salmonella outbreak faces another lawsuit. The parents of an Indiana girl have filed a federal lawsuit against foodmaker ConAgra Foods. ConAgra’s plant in Sylvester, near Albany, is the source of salmonella-tainted peanut butter that reportedly sickened 600 people in 47 states. The Indiana couple says the peanut butter caused their 11-year-old daughter’s kidneys to fail. She is set to receive a kidney from her father on Monday. ConAgra faces several lawsuits stemming from the outbreak.
The city of Blakely over the weekend put itself in the spotlight trying to boost its image. The first Peanut Proud Expo held Saturday was a celebration at a time when Georgia’s peanut industry has been rocked by a salmonella outbreak.
Blakely is home to the Peanut Corporation of America plant that was linked to the outbreak, sickening nearly 700 people and possibly responsible for nine deaths.
Blakely Chamber of Commerce officials say an estimated 2,000 people attended the Saturday event.
The nationwide salmonella scare and recall of hundreds of peanut butter products has now drawn comments from the White House. President Obama says he promises a full review of the Food and Drug Administration amid the outbreak linked to the Blakely, Georgia peanut processing plant.
Obama says the FDA has not been able to catch problems as quickly as he would like. On Friday, the FDA requested a federal investigation into Virginia-based Peanut Corporation of America. The Blakely-plant has been closed with its workers laid-off. The salmonella-outbreak has sickened more than 500 people nationwide, possibly leading to eight deaths. More than 400 products have been recalled.
